Slightly Starfaring
by Machaeus
Summary: Medius with Mecha, space travel, and political intrigue. Yeah. Rated T since there WILL be violence, drama, and moments of great tension.


Buwaro stared out the window of the spaceship, nervously fumbling at his seatbelt. The stars were as beautiful as always...but it wouldn't be long until he couldn't see them, even at night.

The young Fire Demon was, after all, about to touch down on Medius for the first time in his life...and he would soon meet up with his contact. He kept his eyes down at his feet for a time, before realizing that would probably be more suspicious. He wasn't good at this espionage crap.

Being from the colony of Usaerea, the fourth planet from Medius' sun, Buwaro had had plenty of time to see the stars. He wished he could see them again without worrying about the fight he would be in. The young man was a mecha pilot, and not for the Median Federation that currently tried to run the show.

He worked for the Dark Angels, a rebellious group that wished to break away from the Federation's petty politics. Though at first they wanted to stay allied – just separate – the Federation's assassination attempt put that possibility behind them.

Buwaro was a soldier in a war, as much as he was a spy.

Looking at the stars again, he saw the tint of red that signaled the entry into the atmosphere. _Damn,_ he grunted internally. _I will see and admire you again, my loves,_ he thought to the stars. _I promise._

The ship entered the atmosphere of Medius, Buwaro calming himself with thoughts of the stars. The rumbling flames around the ship shook him further, but he finally managed to calm down as they slowed to land.

"First time riding into Medius?" the Khamega next to him asked. He was dressed in a nice suit and wore a white woolen cap.

"Yeah," Buwaro admitted. "I've got a student visa and everything."

"Well," the Khamega grinned, "good luck. Where you heading to school?"

"North Fragaria High," Buwaro replied, wondering why he was intruding.

"I see. Well, I teach there," the Khamega grinned wider, surprising Buwaro. He'd have expected the dragonfolk man to be a business tycoon. "I hope to see you in my classes...what's your name?"

"Buwaro Elexion," the boy replied, relaxing. "And yours?"

"You'll call me Mr. Shalewind," the man smiled. "I teach the Musical Arts. Even in today's world, people need to express themselves creatively."

"Y-yessir," Buwaro replied, unused to the idea of music as a personal endeavor. He'd heard music before, of course, but he'd never thought that someone could dedicate their lives to it like that...teaching a new generation.

"Well," he said as they finally taxied to a stop, "that's our cue. Let's go."

Buwaro presented his passport and student visa at the given stops, and soon found himself walking to his bus, ignoring the sweltering summer heat. Fragaria City was huge, but it wasn't far to the city's subsection of Ghardin, at least if you rode the bus. It was maybe 20 minutes, including the thankfully few stops. Buwaro wondered if he could have walked in an hour or so, then – remembering his backpack full of stuff – decided it was best he hadn't.

The apartment building he finally left the bus for was converted to a dorm about 10 years ago. It was freshly rebuilt about 11 years ago, so he didn't worry about it collapsing on him except for the off chance of a street firefight between Federation and Dark Angel soldiers. He glanced up at the top floor and smiled nervously, walking in. He'd begin his first day as a Junior of NF High tomorrow.

He felt a knot of worry in his stomach, but suppressed it. It wasn't good to work himself up just yet.

As he entered, he recognized all the faces and smiled in relief. Everyone here was a fellow spy and soldier...and they'd all be joining him at the school. He nodded to each of them in turn -

Iratu "Sarinai", an Earth Demon.

Rhea Snaketail, a Jakkai.

Lakritz "Moshur", a Water Demon.

Sakido "Vanerea", a Wind Demon.

Jake Thorndyke, a Human.

Samantha Sinclair, another Human.

Isaria Denevol, an Angel.

The eight of them were all there. "Buwaro," Isaria said with a nod, "your contact will meet you here." She handed him a note, and he read it – 8-24, 2:30 PM, a few blocks from the old capitol building. "Your equipment and personal effects are upstairs. You'll have time to integrate, I'm sure?" she asked.

"Yes," Buwaro replied, eating the note. He liked paper for some reason – at least they were supposed to dispose of the evidence, so it wouldn't look too weird.

Isaria smirked. "You could just shred it, you know."

"Monk," Rhea said casually. When everyone stared at her, she said, "The detective show about the guy with all the mental problems. He figured out a shredded note."

Iratu laughed a big belly laugh. "Oh that's great," he grinned.

Sakido shook her head. "Lakritz, how's dinner coming?" she called.

"Pretty good," he called back. "Sam, can ya gimme a hand? I timed everything to get done at the same time, but I don't have enough hands."

"On it," she called, trotting into the kitchen.

Jake yawned, flipping through the channels. He finally came to a stop. "News is on," he called. "Soon as you guys're done, come on out."

The news was mostly about the ongoing war, but eventually other subjects were touched. Buwaro ate in silence as he absorbed the information he was given by the TV and his friends. He wasn't exactly brilliant, but he had plenty of time to think things through, and had the good habit of noting everything as he needed to on his PDA or a pad of paper. Once he was sure he had it all down, he'd get rid of it. It was a useful memorization technique, and he'd always found it very effective.

He sighed as he cleaned his dish in the sink, and soon went upstairs to his room in the dorm. He flopped down on his bed, exhausted, and decided to write himself a note:

_~ Explore Town_

_ 8-22_

Tomorrow.

* * *

Yawning for the fifth time, Buwaro walked the streets the next morning. He was tired...too tired. He hadn't slept well last night. His mind wandered as he walked, making sure he knew where everything was. He returned to the dorm around 5 PM, ate dinner, and went to bed a little early.

He didn't sleep well that night, either. He finally got a good night's sleep the third night, being too tired to do anything but sleep that night.

Finally, the day came where he needed to meet with his contact. Buwaro had memorized the intel - walk to the old capitol building, east from there two blocks, south two, and sit on the bench near the bus stop. 2:30 came as a human woman sat nearby. "The night life sure is pretty around here," she smiled.

Buwaro was about to grunt "Haven't seen it, too tired" when he remembered the proper response phrase. "Nothing like the stars," he grunted instead.

"You can't even see them here," she said with a smirk.

"That's the problem."

She nodded. "So, were you followed?"

"Dunno," Buwaro answered honestly, looking down.

"That's alright," she said, passing him a small briefcase. "Open that at home, and watch the video at 6:30 PM. The documents are meant for your eyes only."

"Right," Buwaro replied, taking it. "Thanks." The bus arrived, and he got on, the woman leaving.

Buwaro frowned, looking at the briefcase. It seemed...heavy. Had they already been compromised? He decided to take it to a different building, just in case. A much, much farther building. He called Rhea and told her he'd be late.

* * *

6:28. Buwaro glanced at his PDA's clock nervously from atop the abandoned building. If it was a bomb, he'd probably die. He took a deep breath as it turned to 6:29, and opened the case.

It was a bomb – 30 seconds until it blew. Eyes widening, he ran down the stairs of the fire escape. Lunging down the iron, rickety fire escape, he cursed, calling Rhea. "It was a trap, we're compromised," he half-shouted. "My contact handed me a bomb."

"What?" she asked, half-panicked. "Fuck, get out of there!"

"Already on it," he said. "Pick me up in front of the St. Curtis Rapid Transit, Sacred Tree stop." He hung up and landed on the ground, running down the alleys.

_BOOOOOM._

Buwaro cursed again, swerving through alleys and across streets almost randomly towards his destination. He heard police sirens soon and slowed down, knowing he was pretty far away from the building. They soon went past him, and he walked towards the SCRT with a racing mind. Were they going to be killed? Was the mission already a failure?

He finally arrived, his hand drifting to his pack. There was a secret compartment that held a gun – a K-13 pistol, a pretty good weapon. Shame he couldn't wear his body armor in public.

Clawing – since he couldn't really "finger" – his pack, he saw a car drive up. Tensing, he relaxed when he saw it go by, but his tension wouldn't go away.

_Beedle-eedle-eedle-ee!_ Buwaro jumped and answered his phone. "Hey, Rhea," he said.

"We're behind you, dumbass," she said – he swore he could hear a smirk. He turned, hung up, and got in the van. "What happened?"

Explaining the woman, she sighed. "We all met with someone of the same gender. Dammit," she grunted.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Did anyone follow you?"

"Dunno," he grunted. "Probably not."

"Pack heat at class tomorrow. Don't use it unless you have to," she reminded him.

"Right," Buwaro nodded.

* * *

Finally, the school day came. Everyone went to class, and Buwaro entered homeroom nervously. People looked at him as he came in, but no one paid much attention. He heard them all talking about the bomb on the news last night...

"An actual attack?"

"Nah, they just found a ruined briefcase."

"Any prints?"

"From a bomb? Are you stupid?"

"I heard the Dark Angels did it as a warning..."

"Why'd they attack an empty building, though? And the top of one, no less?"

Buwaro grimaced as he listened. The DA didn't bomb people...right? Then again, this was war...they might require it at times.

Sighing, he heard someone whisper, "Hey, you're new right?"

Buwar turned to stare at a blue-haired girl. "Y-yeah," he said, nervous at the angel's sudden interest.

"Yeah, the professor will call you up soon. She comes in five seconds before, on the dot."

Buwaro sighed. "Thanks," he smiled.

Soon, a Jakkai woman came in...five seconds before the bell, exactly. She even opened the door and waited a few seconds. "Alright, everyone settled in for now?" she called, hopping up to the podium. "Now, we have a new student – Buwaro Elexion, was it?" she asked.

Buwaro walked up to the front of the room. "Hi, I'm Buwaro Elexion. I'm the new student, and I'm not really sure what to say about myself other than I'm from Colony Moku. I'm currently looking into the clubs, since, ya know, college, and I'm hoping people have suggestions." He smiled, hoping that everything worked out right.

"Alright, Buwaro," the Jakkai woman smiled, "Please be seated again." As Buwaro sat, she scrawled her name on the blackboard. "I'm Ms. Teragoln, and I'll be your homeroom instructor," she said, beginning the lecture.

Buwaro listened intently, though he got distracted a couple times. Eventually, the class let out for math, then came the music class. He found himself in front of Mr. Shalewind again, the Khamega grinning as everyone played around with instruments.

Buwaro stared finally at a karaoke machine. He flipped through it a few times, looking for something, anything, that he knew, and frowned when he didn't find anything. He walked to the piano and pressed a few keys. He felt awkward, but he sat down and tried a few notes anyways.

As Mr. Shalewind left one student, he came to Buwaro. "Know how to play an instrument?"

"Not really," Buwaro admitted. The two worked on a basic rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", and Buwaro practiced with it. He looked at the sheet music he was given, and tried to read it – it was complex, but he knew at least about quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes, and he knew what the numbers and bars meant thanks to Mr. Shalewind. So, he tried playing a few notes from an old song he knew.

The class was about five minutes to ending, when he realized it had gone quiet as he was practicing. Mr. Shalewind stared at him. "Was that 'Blue Moon'?" he asked.

"Um, yeah," Buwaro said, blushing and looking down at his feet nervously.

"That was nice," the teacher smiled. "How far have you gotten?"

"I can do the main portion, that's pretty easy...but not the...the bridge, I think it's called?" Buwaro hazarded.

"Does anyone here know the song?" Mr. Shalewind asked curiously. The blue-haired girl from before nodded, raising her hand. "Wonderful! Young Lady Suizahn, if you would."

_Suizahn?!_ Buwaro thought, his body chilling. The Suizahn clan was part of the Federation – this could turn bad...

He calmed, focusing on the music as she walked forwards, blushing. Finally, Buwaro began, pressing the keys on the lower end of the piano's scales, to create an intro.

_Blue moon_

_ You saw me standing alone_

_ Without a dream in my heart_

_ Without a love of my own_

_Blue moon_

_ You knew just what I was there for_

_ You heard me saying a prayer for_

_ Someone I really could care for_

Hesitating, Buwaro took another route, playing a few notes at a time, then letting a bar of silence set in, trying to accentuate the mood of the song.

_And then there suddenly appeared before me_

_ The only one my arms will ever hold_

_ I heard somebody whisper please adore me_

_ And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold_

Kieri looked in surprise, as suddenly she was no longer the only voice – the two sang together, the last line.

_Blue moon_

_ Now I'm no longer alone_

_ Without a dream in my heart_

_ Without a love of my own_

The class was silent, until someone began to clap. Buwaro blushed as the whole room applauded, his smile broad as he and Kieri bowed. "Impressive," Mr. Shalewind laughed. "I love it! Maybe you two can do some more duets in time?"

"I...would like that," the Suizahn girl smiled at Buwaro, before he could answer.

"...sounds good," Buwaro smiled nervously. "I hope I can keep up," he added, trying to see if the young lady would react. She giggled, blushing and pleased. Buwaro only smiled. _Well...I may have a friend, then...I just hope I never have to face her._ Despite the dark thought, he kept his mood bright, his smile broad.


End file.
